Raw milk: Some consumers swear by it; others fear it

Gary Walts / The Post-StandardKathie Arnold, who runs Twin Oaks Dairy, an organic dairy farm in Truxton, has a state permit to sell raw milk on her farm. She says she began selling raw milk -- which is milk that is not pasteurized or homogenized -- because customers asked her for it.

Truxton, NY --Christine Kirkman drives from her home in Fayetteville to Truxton each week to buy her milk.

“When I became part of a CSA (community-supported agriculture farm), I heard about raw milk,” Kirkman said. “I researched it a little more, and I was given Kathie’s name by a friend. It contains good bacteria for good digestive health. I’ve been going there almost a year now, and my family really likes it.”

Kirkman and thousands of others in the United States have turned to raw milk instead of buying pasteurized and homogenized milk at the grocery or convenience store.

They believe raw milk is healthier and tastes better.

But the raw milk phenomenon is not without problems.

Last week, the state Department of Agriculture and Markets and state Health Department warned consumers in Tompkins County not to drink raw milk produced at Jerry Dell Farm in Freeville. The Health Department confirmed two cases of a disease called campylobacter enteritis from people who bought unpasteurized milk from Jerry Dell Farm.

On Aug. 3 in Venice, Calif. — a state where it is legal to sell raw milk in retail stores — federal officials raided a raw food store called Rawesome. The owner, James Stewart, was arrested and sent to jail. About $70,000 worth of raw produce and other foods, including gallons of milk, was destroyed.

On one side, proponents say the milk tastes better, is purer and more nutritious. On the other side, opponents say raw milk can be teeming with bacteria that can cause scores of illnesses.

But Central New York raw milk devotees wouldn’t buy anything else. The importance, they say, is knowing where the milk comes from.

“I would never purchase or consume raw milk from a dairy that did not care for its cows like Kathie and her family does (pasture, organic standards of nutrition, etc.),” said Ryan Chatfield, who has been buying milk at Twin Oaks for a couple of years. “Their cows are healthy and happy, and therefore I do not question the quality or safety of the milk.”

Kirkman agrees.

“The farm is clean and well-run,” she said of Twin Oaks. “When I went there for the first time, I looked at the farm and talked to her, and she gave me a booklet to read. I started right away. She (Kathie) was the icing on the cake.”

State permits

New York state is one of 15 states that allows sales of raw milk on the farm where it is produced. Ten states allow raw milk to be sold in retail stores, and four states allow raw milk to be used in pet foods.

The sale of raw milk is illegal in 10 states and Washington, D.C. Those states are Hawaii, Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Iowa, Rhode Island and Delaware.

In New York, farmers must obtain a permit from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets to sell raw milk on their farm. There are 33 raw milk permits issued in the state.

“New York state allows the sale of raw milk from the farm in which it is produced, so people can witness the conditions in which the product was produced,” Ag and Markets Department spokesman Michael Moran said in a statement. “We feel this program strikes a balance between consumer and producers knowing that raw milk has been proven through science to be a medium which can harbor organisms that are known to harm humans.”

Arnold, who runs an organic dairy farm in Truxton, has one of the state permits. She began selling raw milk 2 1/2 years ago “because of customer demands.”

“They asked for years for us to sell them raw milk,” she said. “I thought, if they are willing to buy it, we should offer it.”

She said the permitting process “takes a while,” and she has to pay $100 a year for her milk plant permit. She also had to pay for the initial round of testing of her milk by the state Ag and Markets Department.

She now has about 20 customers who come each week to buy milk. Her milk is tested, and her farm is inspected, once a month by the state. The state tests for pathogens, such as E. coli and salmonella, quarterly. The state checks for bacteria, somatic cell count (which indicates milk quality) and antibiotics once a month.

“(Customers) love it because it has everything in it that nature intended,” she said. “It has vitamins like vitamin C, enzymes and probiotics. I have had some people who said they have had allergic reactions to milk from the store, such as skin breaking out and problems with their abdominal systems. They don’t have that with the raw milk.”

She said heating milk — which is what is done during pasteurization — kills its vitamin C, some enzymes and the good bacteria bodies need.

“There are good bacteria in milk that make sure we don’t have any bad bacteria in us,” Arnold said.

Risks involved

But people don’t understand the risk of drinking raw milk, said Kathryn Boor, dean of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“The risk of illness is there,” she said. “On a daily basis, the risk is small, but there is a risk. And this is one you can control.”

In the early 1900s, Boor said, 25 percent of all illnesses and deaths tied to food and water were linked to contaminated milk.

“Children were dying,” she said.

A report from The Center for Science in the Public Interest covering 1998 to 2007 found most of the 76 million food-borne illnesses in that period came from seafood, produce, poultry, beef and pork.

But the report noted 4,565 illness during those 10 years were attributed to dairy products, and 34 percent of those were associated with unpasteurized dairy products.

Boor, an expert on food safety who spent her career teaching and researching food safety before becoming dean in 2010, said bad bacteria can get into milk a variety of ways. For example, if the suction from the milking machine falls off the cow onto the ground and is near manure, it can suck that into the machine and into the milk.

“And maybe the cows, especially in winter, lie in manure,” she said.

Boor grew up on a dairy farm in Chemung County and drank raw milk as a child. But she said she doesn’t let her own children drink it.

“There are some real negatives,” she said, noting raw milk can harbor E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter. “These diseases run the whole gamut. Most of them are likely to make you miserable but not cause death.”

She also said there is no scientific evidence that raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk. But she agreed that the cleanliness of the farm is key, referring to the state Ag and Markets statement that consumers should know the farmer who is producing their raw milk.

The Centers for Disease Control also casts doubt on raw milk’s benefits.

A statement on the CDC website says: “Many studies have shown that pasteurization does not significantly change the nutritional value of milk — pasteurized milk is rich in proteins, carbohydrates and other nutrients. Heat slightly affects a few of the vitamins found in milk — thiamine, vitamin B12 and vitamin C — but milk is only a minor source of these vitamins.”

Loyal consumers

Yet Ryan Chatfield said she buys raw milk because she believes it contains enzymes and important proteins that are altered during pasteurization. She also said it is easier to digest.

“My husband has not been able to digest milk since his childhood, and he is able to drink raw milk without any digestive problems,” she said.

Chad Donk, another of Arnold’s raw milk customers, said he began drinking it two years ago when his nutritionist recommended it.

“After receiving that recommendation, I did some research and found that raw milk appeared to be a healthier alternative to pasteurized milk. Also, and maybe most importantly, it tastes much better than pasteurized milk,” he said. “I chose to get milk from Kathie (Arnold) because she’s permitted and inspected by New York State Ag and Markets, her farm is organic, and she was willing to show me how she runs her operation.”

Donk also said he bought raw milk at an organic food store when he lived in California.

“I find it odd that I can’t buy it in a store in New York, when I can go buy any number of items at a store that are proven to have many deleterious effects upon a person’s health, such as cigarettes, but yet I can’t buy a natural food that many people throughout the world drink every day,” he said.

About raw milk

• Raw milk is neither homogenized nor pasteurized.

• Homogenization takes the fat in milk that normally floats to the top and disperses it throughout the liquid, making the milk uniform in consistency.

• Pasteurization is the process of heating a beverage or other food, such as milk or beer, to a specific temperature for a specific period of time in order to kill microorganisms that could cause disease, spoilage or undesired fermentation. Milk is heated to 161 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds.